


All It Takes

by Lenny9987



Series: Lenny's Imagine Claire and Jamie Prompts [54]
Category: Outlander (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 02:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17357342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenny9987/pseuds/Lenny9987
Summary: Prompt: Imagine the conversation in S4 between jamie and murtagh when he tells his godfather about his second marriage





	All It Takes

Ian grew bored waiting for Jamie and Murtagh as they discussed Claire’s new ring with long tangents of catching up on the intervening years. He let his uncle know he’d be back in an hour or two and wandered off, leaving the two older men to their talk. 

Having finally settled on a rough design, Murtagh took hold of Ellen’s candlestick and carried it over to the forge to heat and soften enough to trim away what he would need for the ring—it would take a bit longer but he was going to try to take it all from the underside of the base where the loss wouldn’t show. 

Settling to his task, he noted, “I ken there’s more to be upset about than the loss of Claire’s ring given what ye said happened, but tis a shame all the same. To think she wore it all the time ye were parted from one another and now, when ye’ve made yer way to one another again and have a fresh start,  _ now _ is when it’s lost.”

“Perhaps this new ring is an appropriate way to mark that fresh start,” Jamie said with a forced grin. “Lord knows we needed it.” 

“Aye? The loss of Lallybroch to wee Jamie make things too painful to stay? It had to be more than just the lad’s bein’ kidnapped to keep ye from goin’ back to Scotland. Even the promise of so much land…”

“There’re…  _ many _ reasons for us to stay here. Brianna for one. This’ll be her land someday. If I cannae meet my daughter, I’ll at least do what I can to make her place what it will become when she kens it,” Jamie explained. 

Murtagh examined the amount of silver he’d managed to scrape away, gauging whether it would be enough or if he would need more.

“And the uh… the other reasons?” Murtagh pressed gently. 

Jamie cleared his throat, surprising Murtagh who looked up and frowned at the expression on Jamie’s face. He set the candlestick and collected silver shavings aside, then straightened his back waited for his godson to spit it out.

“When ye thought, earlier… when the lad said the ring was for my wife and ye thought I’d married again… That is…  _ before _ Claire found me again… I had taken another wife,” Jamie confessed.

Murtagh shrugged and made to turn back to his work. “Must have been a pretty mess to sort when Claire appeared,” he remarked. “Or were ye a widower?”

“A pretty mess is puttin’ it mildly,” Jamie muttered, causing Murtagh to pause and turn toward him once more. 

“She and her family cause ye trouble? Is that why ye’re settin’ up so far from Scotland?”

“It caused a whole heap of trouble and nearly cost me Claire,” Jamie admitted, looking away and reaching to touch one of several hammers lined up on the workbench. With a sigh, Jamie met his godfather’s waiting gaze again. “I wed Laoghaire. It was little more than two years ‘fore Claire returned. Jenny approved and pushed the match and—”

“Laoghaire…  _ Mackenzie _ ?” Murtagh sought to clarify, his brow furrowing in a mixture of disgust, confusion, and denial. “The lass from Leoch what tried to have Claire killed?” His voice rose on the wave of his indignation. 

Jamie said nothing but the drop of his head, his inability to hold Murtagh’s eye, told his godfather all he needed to know. 

“Laoghaire Mackenzie!” Murtagh exclaimed again, taking a few leering steps toward Jamie.

“Aye! And I already had it out wi’ Claire over it so ye needna feel ye must tell me what a mistake it was. Kent it soon after I’d done it and did what I could to fix it,” Jamie said, standing his ground. “I didna wed her for her sake as it was. Her lasses needed a da and I… I needed… something. Wi’ all I’d lost… anything was better’n nothing. But even for their sake I couldna make it work wi’ Laoghaire so I went away and sent what I could. Still workin’ to send a wee bit here and there for her and the younger lass.”

Murtagh snorted his disapproval but calmed his instinct to yell and lecture. “That lass always was more trouble than she was worth. And I cannae think Time would bother wastin’ itself trying to bring her wisdom. Always was quick to slam the door on that in favor of what she fancied.”

Jamie chuckled and looked away again, staring out the open door and beyond the yard to the busy street. “No, she’s no much changed… Though, time away from her made me blind to it at first. And the lasses. They made it easier to overlook a lot of what I should ha’ paid heed to.”

More of the disappointment faded from Murtagh as he watched Jamie. “Bairns can give ye a deal of comfort when ye need it most… and they needna do a thing to give it either. Just… seein’ ‘em and watchin’ ‘em grow… that’s all it takes most days.”

Jamie glanced to Murtagh, his face going red as he noticed the older man holding out Ellen’s candlestick for Jamie to take back. 

“As ye said. Most days tha’s all it takes.”


End file.
